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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23192200">The Death of the Prince</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnbyTheWitch/pseuds/EnbyTheWitch'>EnbyTheWitch</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Avatar: The Last Airbender</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-18</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 06:20:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>772</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23192200</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnbyTheWitch/pseuds/EnbyTheWitch</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Not for the first time, someone sends an assassin after Zuko.<br/>For the first time, they succeed.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>59</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Death of the Prince</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>First ever fic, please be gentle. Also, first time posting on ao3. Let's hope my formatting is okay.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Not for the first time, someone sends an assassin after Zuko.</p>
<p>For the first time, they succeed.</p>
<p>The assassin is from the Earth Kingdom, and no one is quite sure what to make of him. He's not a bender, he has no apparent skill with the weapons found on him, cannot even speak. How did such a simple man manage to kill the Crown Prince, one of the most powerful fire benders in the world? Come to think of it, how did he even manage to get on the ship? No one is quite sure, but they decide to lock him in the brig until they make port and can send the Fire Lord a message.</p>
<p>The morning after the assassination, both the man and the Prince's body are gone. Iroh is the most devastated any of the crew has seen, because none of them were around after Lu Ten's death. It is a sight no one knew they'd never want to behold.</p>
<hr/>
<p>The man awakens in a hut. Beside him is the Prince- no, not the Prince. Not anymore. Beside him is another man, a boy, really. A boy without a name, with half a face, with enough anger in his heart that even sleep cannot take it away.</p>
<p>The man leaves the hut, filled with determination. He was hired for a very specific task, and he's going to see it through to the end.</p>
<p>At the other side of the village- is it a village? There are a few scattered huts, too small to be a town. At the other end of the village- is another boy. This boy is so different from the former Prince. He smiles all the time, as though the many tragedies of his life had never been. He runs everywhere, except when he flies, in too much of a hurry to appreciate the world around him. Or maybe it's a mask, just as metaphorical the one the man wore last night. If he doesn't slow down, he can't be hurt. If he doesn't stop, he can't feel the pain of his much too short life.</p>
<p>The man was hired for two jobs. Fake an assassination, and protect this other boy with his life. His skillset is very unique, and he will employ it to the best of his ability.</p>
<hr/>
<p>The other boy, the one they call the Avatar, had been found by the Prince about a month ago. Zuko wasn't sure why, but he felt the need to keep his discovery a secret. Maybe he felt he needed more power and control with his bending first. Maybe he wanted to be a fully grown man when he confronted his father with his impossible mission that wasn't as impossible as intended. Maybe he wanted to make his uncle proud, more so than his father, and he knew his uncle wouldn't want him to hand over a child, younger even than he had been when he was banished, to be killed by or on behalf of the Fire Lord.</p>
<p>Whatever the reason, when he found the Avatar, he didn't tell anyone, not even Iroh. Zuko needed time to decide what to do with him, this boy with the power to destroy or save the world. He needed time to figure out who he was- a child-killer, or an intentionally disobedient son. Neither appealed to him.</p>
<p>But he hid the Avatar, whose name he refused to learn for fear of growing attached, in a small village in the Earth Kingdom. He knew how nearly everyone outside the Fire Nation, and even many within its borders, hated the Fire Lord and would do anything in their powers to defy him. This village, and the warrior he later hired, were no exception.</p>
<hr/>
<p>Aang wasn't quite sure why he was here. He remembered running away, and the storm, and falling into the ocean, and then... nothing.</p>
<p>He had woken to shouting, and fire, and a world torn by a war 100 years in the making. A young man, his hair tied up and a scar across one of his eyes, had grabbed him from the ice he'd been trapped in.</p>
<p>They'd traveled together for a week, always on foot- Aang had no idea where Appa had gone, and was almost afraid to ask. When they had arrived at a small village, his companion went ahead, to purchase a shack and food for the coming weeks. He'd told Aang he'd needed to leave for a while, but wouldn't give any other information.</p>
<p>Well, he was back, along with a man, a fighter. Aang wondered what this new life would bring. Hopefully, adventure.</p>
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